Focus on your core

One of the best ways to help reduce your risk for cancer, diabetes, and heart disease is to focus on your abs. That’s right: Beyond ensuring that you look amazing in that fitted dress, keeping your middle little protects your health, studies showand you’ll look better for it. Read on for 26 simple gut-trimming tips (including some smart style tricks) that’ll help take the inches off.

Focus on your core

One of the best ways to help reduce your risk for cancer, diabetes, and heart disease is to focus on your abs. That’s right: Beyond ensuring that you look amazing in that fitted dress, keeping your middle little protects your health, studies showand you’ll look better for it. Read on for 26 simple gut-trimming tips (including some smart style tricks) that’ll help take the inches off.

C-Coconut oil

Brazilian researchers found that obese women who dieted, exercised, and took a 30-milliliter supplement of coconut oil every day carved more inches from their waistlines than did women who dieted and exercised but took soybean oil. (Just choose the virgin, or unprocessed, form of coconut oil.)

Increasing the speed of your crunches (while still maintaining good form) activates more muscles in your trunk than doing more leisurely reps, according to a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

D-Do faster crunches

Increasing the speed of your crunches (while still maintaining good form) activates more muscles in your trunk than doing more leisurely reps, according to a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

E-Eat eggs

Dieters who had two eggs with breakfast whittled their waists more than those who ate the same number of calories but had a bagel instead, research published in the International Journal of Obesity says. (One caveat: You’ll want to limit your eggs to six or fewer per week.)

H-Have whole grains

Obese adults who slashed calories and added whole grains (think brown rice, oatmeal) to their diets lost more belly fat than dieters who ate refined grains (like white bread), a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says.

J-Just say 'moo

Dieters who consumed 1,200 to 1,300 milligrams of calcium every day experienced three times the middle-whittling as those getting the same number of calories but less calcium, a University of Tennessee study found.

N-Nuts, nuts, nuts

Dieters who nibbled on 3 ounces of almonds (about 70) every day lost seven inches from their waists, compared with five inches in the non-almond-eating crowd, according to a study in the International Journal of Obesity.

U-Unhook that bra

And find a better size. The proper one will lift the girls and give you a longer, leaner look, so get professionally fitted. “That can be like six months at the gym,” says Kendall Farr, a New York City fashion stylist and author of Style Evolution.